A Power-Grid-Mapping Edge Computing Structure for Digital Distributed Distribution Networks

To achieve comprehensive awareness and efficient regulation, various types of intelligent electronic devices (IEDs) and new information and communication technologies (ICTs) are involved in distribution networks, leading to the evolution of traditional distribution networks into digital ones. Unfortunately, the traditional centralized management approach suffers from an excessive computational and communication burden at the master station in large-scale digital distribution networks. Driven by this motivation, this paper proposes a power-grid-mapping edge computing structure to engine the emerging digital distributed distribution networks (DDDNs). In the proposed structure, the distributed IEDs are used as edge computing nodes to perform computations. Based on the specific nature of the computation tasks, the edge nodes create a communication network that mirrors the topology of the power grid. Computation tasks are then executed through a novel relay computing scheme. In this scheme, each edge node receives a computation task from its upstream neighbor, decomposes it into a local sub-task and a downstream sub-task, and forwards the downstream sub-task to the downstream neighbor. The voltage sensitivity analysis is used as an illustrative example of the proposed relay computing scheme. Case studies demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed computing structure and highlight its benefits.